LOS ANGELES (Feb. 16, 2012) - Screen Actors Guild Awards® Committee Chair JoBeth Williams announced that next award season’s 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards has been scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013 at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center. The 2013 SAG Awards® ceremony will honor the outstanding performances of calendar year 2012. The celebration of the year’s finest acting achievements will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS, marking the 16th consecutive year the SAG Awards have been telecast on television’s destination for drama and 8th year on cable’s top-rated comedy network. Timing for the 19th Annual SAG Awards nominations announcement and the full calendar of key dates for the 19th Annual SAG Awards will be announced in the coming months.

The 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremonies, awarding The Actor® statuettes for the outstanding performances of 2011, were simulcast live on TNT and TBS from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. After experiencing tremendous growth with last year’s ceremony, the simulcast was up 3% this year, with a total audience of more than 5.2 million viewers. The show ranked as the #1 program on basic cable for the day. In social media, the SAG Awards rose to be the #1 Trending Topic on Twitter during the ceremony.

Before the telecast, TNTDRAMA.com, TBS.com and People.com presented the live two-hour Red Carpet Pre-show webcast, featuring the announcement of the SAG Honors for outstanding action performances by film and television stunt ensembles.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards® commend the year’s finest achievements in acting in film and television, including the distinctive ensemble awards, which honor the collaborative performance by a cast in a motion picture and by the ensemble casts of both comedy and dramatic television series. SAG Honors lauding the work of television and film stunt ensembles are announced just prior to the Actor® ceremony.

Recipients are selected solely by Screen Actors Guild members. “Actors take great pride in being honored by their peers and look forward each year to the opportunity to celebrate together,” commented Williams

Nominees for the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the SAG Honors for outstanding action performances by stunt ensembles are chosen by separate film and television nominating committees, each composed of 2100 actors, random-selected anew in the spring each year from the Guild’s nationwide membership of more than 120,000 acting professionals. The entire active Guild membership is given the opportunity to vote for the recipients.